The BrewsLeader April 2004 Vol. 21 No. 4 Dowd’s Saison Sensational! ANNUAL CLUB COMPETITION BIG HIT Brian Dowd may be a relative newcomer to the James River Homebrewers, but he’s clearly no rookie when it comes to making great beer. Brian’s Saison bested 40 other entries to take Best of Show honors at the Club’s Annual Club Competition held during the March meeting. Waytogo Brian! Hats off to Stasi York, Steve Severtson, Jeff York, and the rest of the Competition Committee for running a smooth and fun operation. UPCOMING EVENTS Apr 14 Club Meeting Brewing 101 - Brewing for Novices & Intermediate Brewers AHA Club Only - Extract (Any style - at least 50% of fermentables must be from extract) Apr 17 Dominion Cup May 12 Club Meeting How to Keg Beer May 19 Board Meeting May 22 Club Brew @ Ted Warren’s Jun 9 Club Meeting Summer Coolers Jun 12 BURP’s Spirit of Free Beer Competition Jun 26 Club Brew @ Tedd Smith’s Jul 14 Club Meeting Jul 21 Board Meeting Aug 11 Club Meeting AHA Club Only Wheat Beer (Cat. 17) Aug 14 Summer Party @ Dan Mouer’s Aug 20 – 22 BURP Mashout Sep 8 Club Meeting Sep 15 Board Meeting Sep 18 Club Brew @ WeekEnd Brewer Sep 25 River City Beer & Seafood Festival Oct 13 Club Meeting Oct 30 Hallo-Fest Party @ Stasi & Jeff York’s Nov 10 Club Meeting AHA Club Only IPA (Cat. 7) Nov 17 Board Meeting Dec 8 Club Meeting Election of Officers Dec ? Holiday Party ***************************** Club to Brew at Richbrau Mike Banks, Head Brewer at Richbrau, has offered the Club the opportunity to brew a batch of beer at their facility. We’ll provide the recipe, subject to Mike’s OK. This should be a great experience to work with a professional brewer on a professional system. Details to follow. Thanks, Mike, for providing this great opportunity. ***************************** Club Survey We are conducting a survey of the membership to get a better handle on who we are and how we can make the James River Homebrewers an even better organization. Blank surveys were included in the March issue of the BrewsLeader. If more than one member of a household is a member of the Club, each member should complete a survey. Please return surveys to Jeff Hewit, or mail them to Club’s PO Box. If you need another copy of the survey, see Jeff, or go the Club’s website. Competition BURP's Spirit of Free Beer: The Brewers United for Real Potables (BURP), based in the Washington, DC area, is the largest AHA homebrew club, with 300+ members. Their 2004 SoFB competition is set for June 12. This is a great competition, a bit larger than our Dominion Cup. They have been great supporters of us - a number of BURP members have traveled to Richmond to judge in the Dominion Cup. If you have a few spare bottles, think about sending some up to this competition. AHA Club-Only Competitions From time to time, the American Homebrewers Association (AHA) sponsors competitions based on a particular style. These competitions are open only to AHA-affiliated homebrew clubs. Each club holds a competition on the particular style. The winner’s brew is sent off to the AHA to be judged with the winners from other homebrew clubs around the country. Bring in five bottles – two for the local competition and three to send off if you win. Competition schedule: > Apr - Extract Brews - Any style - at least 50% of fermentables must be from extract > Aug - Wheat Beer (Cat. 17 ) > Sep - Smoked Beer (Cat. 23) > Nov - IPA (Cat. 7) - Hosted by James River Homebrewers When the entry dates are set, we will include the competitions in the Upcoming Events listing. Winners earn Homebrew Club of the Year points for their club. ***************************** Message from Your Secretary Please be sure to keep your personal information up to date. I send paper copies of the BrewsLeader to all members. I also send an email copy to those with e-mail addresses. I also use email to remind members of other activities – Club brews, parties, etc. If you are reading the paper copy of this, but have not received any e-mail from the Club, I don’t have a current email address for you – please forward it to me at xxx@xxx.xxx. Brew On! Jeff Elections We're looking for a few good men…and women! In the fall, we elect Officers and Directors for terms beginning January 1, 2005. The offices of Vice President, Secretary, and Member at Large will begin two-year terms; the Assistant Competition Coordinator and all six director positions will begin one-year terms. The current Board of Directors will nominate a slate of candidates at the November meeting. The elections will take place during the December meeting. (Additional nominations may be made at that time.) If you’re interested in serving the Club, let any Officer or Director know. ***************************** BEER TASTER WINS ADDITIONAL COMPENSATION A Brazilian has won increased compensation from a brewery after claiming 20 years as a taster made him an alcoholic. Master Brewer Bernd Naveke, 49, drank around eight liters of beer every working day while at the Brahma Brewery near Rio de Janeiro. He was forced to leave his job after becoming a registered alcoholic and hasn't worked since. In the original case he was awarded $30,000 and a monthly pension for life equal to his old salary of $2,600. Now a court in Rio has ordered the brewery to pay him $2 million. GOVERNATOR TERMINATED Governator Ale is gone - and it won't be back. Oregon's Portland Brewing Co. has agreed to demands from California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's lawyers to quit making its Governator Ale. Portland began brewing the beer in January for the California market. It was an extra special bitter ale and came in a 22-ounce bottle with a label bearing a muscular figure posing like a body builder. The image was designed to be generic, so no royalties or licensing fees were at issue with Schwarzenegger. However, in the months since Schwarzenegger took office his lawyers say they have been on alert for unauthorized ads and products. It has taken action against dozens of business ventures that attempted to profit form Schwarzenegger's image. Drunken chimps threaten humans “Country beer” fuels attacks in western Uganda Officials report beer contributes to the threat chimpanzees sometimes present in western Uganda. The chimps have been raiding illegal brewing operations in forested river valleys and getting drunk on the country beer. Once intoxicated, they become hostile and attack and at times kill human children, parks officials say The officials point out that a chimp cannot take on a grown man. All the babies they have attacked have been either unaccompanied, or are in the company of other children. Officials of the Jane Goodall Institute in Uganda were quoted in BBC's Wildlife Magazine as saying that chimpanzees had killed eight children and injured many others in Ugandan national parks. These incidents happened over several years, and Debby Cox, the director of the institute, suggested that the aggressive behavior of the chimps was caused by increased proximity between the animals and humans. A Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) report on the attacks says that local beer is usually brewed illegally along river valleys, which are also the habitat of chimps. "When chimps come across the local brew, they drink it, become drunk and in that state any encounter with people means an attack," says the report. The attacks are normally experienced in areas neighboring the park and normally occur between October and December. This is probably due to food scarcity prevailing in the main chimp habitat during this period, which forces them to move beyond the park boundary in search of food. "Crops such as sugarcane and bananas, which are grown near the parks, are preferred by chimps. Once the chimps come across a sugarcane plantation, for example, they tend to abandon the park and, as a result, come into conflict with the local communities," says the report. And when crop-raiding chimps are chased, they get frightened and charge back — especially if they have been drinking. ***************************** River City Cellars Beer, Wine and Gourmet Foods 2931 West Cary Street Richmond, VA 23221 (804) 355-1375 www.rivercitycellars.com 10% Discount to Members of James River Homebrewers ***************************** The WeekEnd Brewer Homebrew & Wine Supplies 4205 West Hundred Road Chester, VA 23831 (804) 796-9760 www.weekendbrewer.com Special to Club Members Only - Cash and Carry 50Lb. Bag Briess Brewers 2 row Malt $30.00 - One Per Customer Please- save $8.00 per bag Beer Cap Special Every once and awhile we come across overruns and Brewery closures. You will get a kick out of Hooch brews' & 'Steam Ship Brewery - sold in 55 pack for only 60 ¢ and 150 pack for only $ 1.55 The V-Vessel System comes in one size. Its FULL capacity is 6 US gallon /23 liters. The unit is marked in Imperial and US Gallon levels. Ideal for most all 6 gallon wines & 5 gallon batch of Beer. The System comes in a Boxed kit consisting of the unit itself with the collection capsule, bracket and mounting accessories, rubber bung and airlock, an extra female coupler with a tubing adapter, and six feet of clear tubing for bottling or filtering. Hard time lifting? The V-Vessel is used by those that can not lift the heavy carboy. Call or write for more information Barons Premium Beer Kits offer you 7.5 litres of high quality concentrated wort to get you underway to creating a natural beer of outstanding flavour, ready to brew with conventional brewing equipment, with no need for boiling! Barons is defined by superior ingredients, state-of-the-art processing and unique user-friendly packaging which preserves product freshness. With Barons, we handle the preparation of premium malt, hops and water. We even throw in a special add pack of finishing hop pellets, allowing dry-hopping for extra aroma and a further hint of flavour. You handle the rest – and it couldn’t be simpler. Barons offers a range of popular North American styles in addition to a selection of premium microbrew styles that offer full aromas and flavours for the discerning beermaker. See how easy it is to brew a high quality, deliciously refreshing beer with Barons Premium Beer Kits! German Hallertau Mittelfruh Hop Pellets This classic German aroma is associated with Bavarian style lager beers. The Noble hop is also well known for its use by the Boston Beer Company in its Samuel Adams Lager. It has a mild and pleasant aroma with a typical alpha acid of 3.5% to 5.5 %. Is it Time for your Wheat Beers? Bulk - Wheat Malt Extract, is back in Stock and still just $1.99 per pound. Charlie Papazian’s The New Complete Joy of Home Brewing - 3rd Edition is now available. The best selling home brew book for years blends from the old and adds some from the new. $ 14.95 HEADING LIQUID is a solution of propylene glycol alginate and distilled water added at the time of bottling to improve the head retention of homemade beer. The 1/3 fl. oz. pouch is good for six gallons and sells for $2.00. The BrewsLeader is the official publication of James River Homebrewers PO Box 486 Richmond, Virginia 23218-0486 Monthly Meetings All meetings are held on the second Wednesday of each month at The Legend Brewery, 321 West 7th Street, Richmond, Virginia. Homebrew tasting at 6:30, meeting at 7:00. We are grateful to Tom Martin and the rest of the Legend staff for their gracious hospitality. Officers and Board of Directors President: Tedd Smith xxx-xxxx Vice President: Dan Mouer xxx-xxxx Treasurer: Bobby Yenney xxx-xxxx Secretary: Jeff Hewit xxx-xxxx Member @ Large: Denise Pierce xxx-xxxx Competition Coordinator: Stasi York xxx-xxxx Asst. Competition Coordinator: Steve Severtson xxx-xxxx Web Master: Ronnie Anderson xxx-xxxx Directors Woody Elliot xxx-xxxx Jack Jackson xxx-xxxx Steve Jarrett xxx-xxxx Joel Trojnar xxx-xxxx Ted Warren xxx-xxxx Jeff York xxx-xxxx Web Site www.jrhomebrewers.org Submit Articles Articles or other items of interest from the membership are welcome and should be submitted to the Secretary. Email to xxx@xxx.xxx. Dues The date after your name on the address label is the due date for your dues renewal. To renew your membership, just bring your dues - only $20 - to the next meeting, and give them to the Treasurer (or another officer if he isn’t there). If you wish, you may mail your dues to the Club at PO Box 486, Richmond, VA 23218-0486 Inclement Weather Policy If the Richmond city Schools are closed due to inclement weather on the day of a regularly scheduled Club meeting, the meeting will be cancelled, and re-scheduled for the following Wednesday – this will be confirmed by e-mail. Remember Drink Responsibly - Don’t Drink and Drive! Members and guests at James River Homebrewers meetings and events are individually and solely liable for any and all actions attendant to or resulting from their participation. James River Homebrewers PO Box 486 Richmond, VA 23218-0486